Gerald Michael Butts (born July 8, 1971) is a Canadian executive and former policy advisor to governments and political leaders. He is vice chairman and senior advisor at
Eurasia Group and a Board Member of the
World Wildlife Fund. He served as the
Principal Secretary to Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau from November 4, 2015 until his resignation on February 18, 2019.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a><a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a><a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a> From 2008 to 2012, he was
president and
CEO of the
World Wildlife Fund Canada,<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a> part of a global conservation organization. In 2014,
Maclean's magazine declared Butts to be the fourteenth most powerful Canadian.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a> As the former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau, Butts was praised as the architect behind the
Liberal Party of Canada platform that led to its victory in October 2015 and was one of the most senior staffers in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Born in
Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, with three older brothers and one older sister,<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a> he is the son of Charles William "Charlie" Butts, a coal miner<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>8<span>]</span></a> who was 56 years old when Butts was born and retired when Butts was 6 years old, and Rita Monica (Yorke) Butts, a nurse<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>8<span>]</span></a> and a first-generation Canadian daughter of a
Ukrainian father and a
Polish mother.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>9<span>]</span></a><a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>10<span>]</span></a> He attended Bridgeport School (now closed) and then St. Michael's High School (now closed).
....
In 1999, Butts became a policy director within the
Government of Ontario.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a> He was the policy secretary, and later the principal secretary, in the office of the then
premier of Ontario,
Dalton McGuinty, in Toronto.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>12<span>]</span></a> Prior to the 2007 election, Butts was a McGuinty insider. After the election, he became McGuinty's principal adviser. As one of his biographical notes describes it, Butts "was intimately involved in all of the government’s significant environmental initiatives, from the Greenbelt and Boreal Conservation plan to the coal phase-out and toxic reduction strategy
...
Butts advised the campaigns that led to the
Ontario Liberal Party's election victories in 2003 and 2007.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>10<span>]</span></a>
On June 25, 2008, Butts was announced as the president and CEO of the
World Wildlife Fund Canada. He officially took up the position on September 2, 2008,<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>14<span>]</span></a> succeeding Mike Russill.
On October 16, 2012,<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>15<span>]</span></a> Butts left WWF Canada to become the political advisor to Justin Trudeau.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>16<span>]</span></a> His position at WWF Canada was filled by
David Miller, a former
mayor of Toronto.
On December 13, 2012, Butts was interviewed by
Steve Paikin for
The Agenda on the topic of "The Best Way to Clean Up the Environment".<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>17<span>]</span></a><a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>18<span>]</span></a> Butts has published articles in the
Boston Book Review, the
Literary Review of Canada, and
Gravitas. He has also appeared on television programs such as
W5 and
TSN's
Off the Record.
....
In 2012, stemming from a two-decade-long friendship, Butts became the senior political adviser to Justin Trudeau <a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>19<span>]</span></a> and one of the few people with whom Trudeau consulted regularly.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>10<span>]</span></a> During Trudeau's initial time as Liberal Party leader. He also assisted on the vast majority of policies on which Trudeau campaigned.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>10<span>]</span></a> He was appointed Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister on November 4, 2015.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a>
On September 21, 2016,
The Globe and Mail reported that Butts had charged moving expenses to Canadian taxpayers in the amount of $126,669.56 to relocate his residence from Toronto to
Ottawa.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>20<span>]</span></a> These expenses included a personalized cash payout of $20,799.10.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>21<span>]</span></a> After it was revealed publicly, Butts agreed to repay $41,618.62.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>22<span>]</span></a>
On February 18, 2019, Butts stepped down as Trudeau's principal secretary and stated that it was to defend himself from allegations made against him in relation to the
SNC-Lavalin affair and to avoid drawing attention away from the prime minister's work.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a> In a statement released on Twitter, Butts denied influencing the Attorney General and noted that he specifically recruited
Jody Wilson-Raybould to join the
Liberal Party of Canada and was an avid supporter during both her candidacy and her tenure as a minister.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a> Butts reiterated these claims in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on March 6, 2019.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>23<span>]</span></a> At the time of Butts' resignation, Trudeau had responded by thanking him for his service, while acknowledging the integrity, guidance, and devotion that Butts had provided him.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>24<span>]</span></a> In July 2019, Prime Minister Trudeau hired Butts back to play a key role in the Liberal 2019 election campaign.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>25<span>]</span></a>
Between January 2017 and February 2024, Butt's
Eurasia Group received over $1.5 million in contracts from the Government of Canada for consulting and geopolitical research.<a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>26<span>]</span></a><a href="
Gerald Butts - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>27<span>]</span></a>